


Love and Soul

by terma_archivist



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-10-01
Updated: 1999-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26536201
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/terma_archivist/pseuds/terma_archivist
Summary: Note from alicettlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived atTER/MAand was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2019. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address onthe TER/MA collection profile.TER/MA October 1999 Challenge. OK folks, time to put away the badfic crayons and become the Grrreat Shakespearian Writers we all know we are. In an effort to recover from last month's... ahem... affliction, shall we say, we are going to pull on the masters this month. This month's challenge is to take a well known story—be it from a book, play, movie, fairytale, whatever—and adopt it to fit our duo.  I find that everyone has a story that Alex and Fox remind them of, and am surprised to find that everyone's story is different.  You can do it tongue in cheek (say, Muldero and Alexette), but I encourage something more thoughtful, a modern retelling of a classic.  Please ask if you have any questions, but the nature of the challenge is, as always, very broad and open to individual interpretation.
Relationships: Alex Krycek/Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Collections: TER/MA





	Love and Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alicettlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [TER/MA](https://fanlore.org/wiki/TER/MA) and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2019. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [the TER/MA collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/terma/profile).  
> TER/MA October 1999 Challenge. OK folks, time to put away the badfic crayons and become the Grrreat Shakespearian Writers we all know we are. In an effort to recover from last month's... ahem... affliction, shall we say, we are going to pull on the masters this month. This month's challenge is to take a well known story—be it from a book, play, movie, fairytale, whatever—and adopt it to fit our duo. I find that everyone has a story that Alex and Fox remind them of, and am surprised to find that everyone's story is different. You can do it tongue in cheek (say, Muldero and Alexette), but I encourage something more thoughtful, a modern retelling of a classic. Please ask if you have any questions, but the nature of the challenge is, as always, very broad and open to individual interpretation.

Go to notes and disclaimers 

  
**Love and Soul  
by Morgan Peterson**

  
It was cold. Very, very, very cold. Mulder huddled into his trench coat and scowled at his fellow prisoner. "How, exactly, did we get into this?" 

Krycek smiled sharply at the ticked off agent. "You have the eidetic memory, you tell me." 

"I knew I shouldn't have trusted you." 

"And yet you keep doing so. Amazing. Besides, I wasn't the one who chose a freezer to hide in." 

"It was a door that was open, so sue me." 

"If we get out of here alive, and I weren't wanted dead by half the governments on earth, I'd consider it." 

Mulder just snorted at that. "Yeah. Right. No jury would take your side." 

"Oh, I don't know. I can be fairly convincing." 

Mulder held back a flinch at the memories of how 'convincing' Alex Krycek could be. "Just shut up." 

For a little while, all that could be heard was the hum of the freezer's motor, and the chattering of their teeth. Then a sigh from Krycek's side of the small unit, "How long until your partner figures out where you are and once more rushes to your rescue?" 

"Like I know?" 

"I don't suppose you bothered telling her where you were going.." 

"Is she in here with us?" 

"Ah. That would be a 'no' then. You have a bad habit of ditching your partners, Mulder." 

Mulder tucked his knees closer to his chin, and did his best to ignore the irritating bastard. Why he'd believed Krycek, he had no idea.. 

_But if this were a trap, would he be in here with you?_

Damn, he hated that reasonable little voice. It never had anything good to say! 

He let his mind wander from subject to subject, and wasn't surprised when no matter what path it took, his thoughts always returned to Alex Krycek. That tended to happen even when he wasn't trapped in a small space with the man. 

There had been a time when he'd believed that all he need in his life was Scully and Krycek. Friend and.. Well.lover. Yes, he had loved Alex Krycek before he'd learned that the man had betrayed him. 

_Had? You still do, idiot._

Had. But then he'd learned that Krycek had helped in Scully's abduction, had reported on him to that damn Smoking Bastard. Had.. 

_Left you? That was the thing that really pissed you off, wasn't it? I'm you, I should know. He left you. No explanations, no good-byes, just there one night, gone the next. And then you were alone. No Krycek in your bed, no Scully at your side, no friends, no life.. Poor you._

I was not that pathetic! 

_Yes you were. And you're not much better now. Admit it, you'll still feel just as bad, but at least you won't be lying to yourself. Aren't you the one who is always seeking 'The Truth'?_

Yup. He really hated that voice. 

"Mulder? Mulder?" 

He was being shaken—the hands on his shoulders feeling like brands, burning through his layers of clothing and coat, and warming him. 

"Mulder! Wake up." 

"I wasn't sleeping." 

"Mulder, I have been saying your name for the last five minutes. We have got to do something to keep each other awake, or we'll freeze to death before Scully gets here." 

Mulder sighed. "Much as I'd loath to agree with you, you're right. What do you have in mind?" 

_Oh boy. Do I have some ideas.!_

Oh god. The images that popped into his head were not what he needed in his head while trapped, alone, with his ex-lover. Not good thoughts to be having at all! 

Krycek just stared at him for a few moments, face expressionless, eyes shadowed. Then he grinned, an incongruously innocent smile, considering what Mulder knew of the man's past deeds. 

"We could tell stories." 

Mulder just stared, unsure that he'd heard the assassin correctly. "Stories? What's next? Charades? Truth or Dare?" 

"You have a better idea?" 

_Oh yeah. Lot's of them. Just let me get your jacket off.._

Shut up! "No." 

"Well then. Who first?" 

"You. I can't think of anything good right now." 

"Mulder, your whole life is a fairy tale." 

Mulder shrugged. "I don't know, I could almost imagine you as Shahrazad, weaving stories to delay your death. You've done it before, God knows." 

Krycek leaned against the same box Mulder was leaning against, settling in with his left side touching Mulder's right. "Hmm. A story. Okay. Eros was the god of love, and yet, had never fallen in love himself. However, one day, he was accidentally pierced by one of his own arrows and fell in love with the first person he saw, Psyche." 

Mulder found himself leaning against Krycek, absorbing his heat, as he listened to the story. The man had a mesmerizing voice, and if he closed his eyes, he could almost see images. 

* * *

Mulder shut the door behind his zoned out partner. Krycek had honestly thought he was saving Mulder's life, and was taking the death of Augustus Cole hard. "You did the right thing, Alex." 

"He didn't have a gun. I blew it." 

"It was suicide, Alex, not your fault. There was nothing you could have done. In your place, I would have probably done the same." 

The younger agent looked so lost and out of it, he brought out all of Mulder's latent protective instincts. He just felt the urge to 'make it better' somehow. Not to mention the man was gorgeous.. 

"Mulder?" 

He found that Alex was only a few feet from him. The darkest, greenest eyes he'd ever seen staring right into his. He gave in to the urge, and drew the younger man into a hug. "It's all right. It'll be all right." 

To his surprise, he found himself being kissed within an inch of his life. Only lack of air caused them to surface some indeterminable amount of time later. Those eyes were staring into his, lust and sorrow, and some nebulous emotion he couldn't identify in their depths. 

"Mulder? I. I wish. Please, stay?" 

"Yes." 

* * *

"He took Psyche as his wife, but he wanted her to love him for himself, not because of his godhood. So he came to her only at night, and forbid her to look upon him. Things went happily until Psyche's mother and sisters, jealous of her happiness, started to plant ideas in her head." 

* * *

"But Mulder, what do you really know about him? I mean, what happened to 'Trust no one'?" 

Mulder sighed. "Scully, he's my new partner. I have to give him a chance, just like I did you. You turned out to be the best thing that's ever happened to me, what might he be? I have to a least try." 

"Yes, but.. I'm worried about how quickly you seem to have started trusting him. What if he does work for Them?" 

"Then sooner or later, he'll give himself away." 

"Yes, but what if you're too far in then? I just. I just don't want you to get hurt." 

Mulder smiled wryly at his only friend. She didn't know how much that possibility would hurt. He wasn't sure what he felt for Alex, but he had a sneaking suspicion it was love. And if such a fate were in store for him, it could quite possibly destroy him. 

"Yeah. Me either." 

* * *

"After many visits from her family, and many questions about her husband, Psyche's curiosity got the better of her. One night, after her husband was sleeping, she took an oil lamp she had hidden, and lit it. And found herself staring at an un-earthly beautiful youth. However, the light woke her lover, and he stared up at her in sorrow and betrayal. "You had but to love me for myself and trust in me! But now because of your mistrust I must leave you! How could you do this to us?" 

The lamp blew out in a ghostly wind, and with the sound of a thousand birds in flight, her husband vanished." 

* * *

Mulder leaned against his lover. "We lost her, Alex. They have her, and I couldn't save her." 

"We'll get her back, Mulder. You know we will. It'll be okay. I swear, it'll be okay. She'll be back." 

The next day, Mulder found himself staring down at an ashtray full of Morely butts, his faith shattered, trust lost, and heart broken. He looked, and found that Alex Krycek's apartment was empty, his life abandoned. It was as if he'd never existed. 

He cried in his sleep for weeks afterwards. 

* * *

"Psyche searched the world for her love, but he was invisible to her now. Some stories say the gods took pity on her and turned her into an owl. So even now she cries throughout the night searching for her beloved." 

During the course of the story, the two men had moved closer together, trying to stay warm. They were practically curled around each other by now. Mulder, eyes still closed, tucked his face into Krycek's shoulder, beneath his chin. He could feel the other man's swiftly in-drawn breath beneath his cheek. 

"Mulder?" 

"If I open my eyes, will you vanish?" 

Krycek's arms lifted to gently fold around him. "I'll always be here when you need me. I'll always come back to you. But." 

"You can't stay." 

Silence was his agreement. There was the sound of footsteps and the door opened. The two men separated quickly. Mulder stood up to see Scully standing in the doorway, glaring at him. "Mulder? Sometimes I think you're more trouble than you are worth. Ditch me again, and I will make you regret it!" 

Mulder smiled wryly at his partner, part of his attention on the shadow that ghosted through the door behind her, without drawing her attention. He sighed. He was probably going to manage to convince himself that he'd gone temporarily insane. And that would last right up until he once again laid eyes on Alex Krycek. He was insane, and he couldn't even bring himself to care. Regret.. "I already do, Scully. I already do." 

* * *

Disclaimer: CC and 1013 owns them all, but I think they'd be happier with me.   
Archive: Umm, anywhere at all, as long as I know about it.   
Notes: Okay. Here's my contribution to the October Challenge. What can I say, Mulder makes a wonderful Psyche, and Alex as Eros, well.. What's not to like? _Grin_ Admittedly, I fidgeted with the story a little, but I really did read a version where Psyche became an owl.   
---


End file.
